After the madness of Group A, with Endpoint beating NAVI and fnatic out-qualifying NIP and Spirit, Group B was always going to underwhelm, wasn’t it?
And day one really did just that: 2:0, 2:0, 2:0.
G2 and FaZe picked up boring wins against MIBR and this group’s San Marino cosplayers FTW Esports, while Outsiders’ win over BIG probably decided who will come third in the group.
After losing YEKINDAR we’ve barely heard from Outsiders. But, there’s a new king benefitting from Jame’s system: scrub-killer FL1T, who has a 1.54 rating after four maps in Group B. Just like a man playing for that Bleed eSports bag.
G2’s 4-0 record in maps is a tad flattering, given that the last two of those wins were overtime wins over BIG, with HooXi dropping 31 kills in 71 rounds.
Luckily, huNter- dropped 66 and NiKo 57, which was just enough to beat a BIG side that Outsiders made look average the day before.
As for FaZe, their summer break ring rust is still visible. MIBR’s 19-year-old wonderkid brnz4n — don’t ask us how to pronounce that — put up a statement performance in a 16:9 drubbing of the world’s best team in map one.
FaZe woke up to batter MIBR on the two remaining maps, storming to a 15:0 lead on the CT side of map three, Overpass, before closing it out 16:4. karrigan and Twistzz even bought a few P90s, for god’s sake.
All that means it would take a pretty big upset for it to not be FaZe, G2, and Outsiders in the three playoff spots but there’s still plenty to play for: Those three teams will be fighting for 1st place (or 3rd place, so they avoid NAVI) against each other in the final three gamedays, while BIG and MIBR still have a chance to pip one of them to a playoff berth. Sorry FTW.
But who needs jeopardy in a group stage when you’ve got the Battle of the Bots to look forward to? karrigan vs HooXi fills the primetime slot of 19:30 CET on Saturday when G2 face FaZe.
Can NiKo’s budget karrigan out-do the real thing? Can jks complete a map without a whiff? Can broky attempt an opening kill?
It may be a fairly meaningless seeding-decider, but it’s still compelling. And come on — we know you’ll be watching too. Roll on Saturday!
Final standings:
Never miss a thing! Get our recap of the biggest news and matches straight to your inbox, twice a week.
